BD Medical- Pharmaceutical Systems is now eyeing the Indian healthcare sector which is looking for devices like the prefilled drug delivery system to garner a substantial portion of its market presence. The company’s two latest offerings: Neopak and Uniject SCF (Sterile, Clean and ready to Fill) are now introduced for the first time in the country.

The advanced prefilled syringe (PFS) is preferred to administer vaccines and biotech medications that are highly sensitive.

“The big take away of PFS is that it reduces drug wastage and minimises dosage errors besides improving patient compliance as compared to vials. Prefilled drug delivery systems are most convenient for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, migraine, cardiac problems, various cancers, diabetes and nephrology. Global studies have indicated a higher preference for PFS by doctors and patients”, Murli Sundrani, business director, BD Medical-Pharmaceutical Systems, BD India, told Pharmabiz in a telecon on the sidelines of Technovation 2015 which is an annual knowledge seminar.

Industry reports indicate Indian injectables form 14 per cent of the country’s pharma market. Prefilled syringes, ampoules, vials, infusions constitute the injectable market. Here vials hold 57 per cent and PFS 7 per cent of this market. Currently in India, PFS use is less than 1 per cent. BD is working to increase the PFS usage to 1- 2 per cent over the next 5 years, he added.

With Indian healthcare providers and an educated patient pool who are looking for advances in drug delivery of higher quality and reliability, BD is now ideally positioned to accelerate its growth, noted Sundrani.

“Now BD’s imports Neopak and Uniject SCF which are manufactured under GMP-FDA audited sterile plants globally. The company could look at exploring possibilities to manufacture it in India going by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India programme,” he said.

Injectable drug delivery market is primarily driven by rising incidences of chronic diseases. Today, prefilled drug delivery systems are considered to be the preferred mode of administering over 50 injectable drugs. Countries like US, Europe and Japan, pre-dominantly use the technology, while its usage is expanding in developing world including India and China.

Neopak is a single-dose, ready-to-use glass PFS enabling lesser injection time and contamination. Uniject SCF is a single-use prefilled auto disable injection system that is tamperproof, preventing needle reuse and ideal for outreach programmes like mass immunisation.

Indian Academy of Paediatrics Committee on Immunisation (IAPCOI) in association with BD Medical-Pharmaceutical Systems completed a Time and Motion Study in India to assess the impact on vaccination efficiency with PFS. The study conducted in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and Kolkata demonstrated that PFS was proven to be twice as fast as vials and handling errors were 3 times fewer than vials by studies. The advantages of the PFS have been acknowledged by the CDC, which now recommends it as the ‘preferred’ system of vaccine administration, said Dr S.G. Kasi, principal investigator, Time & Motion Study.